PANAJI
The Pune Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday set up a 3-member panel to probe the construction of the footbridge connecting the Campal walkway to the main road at the mouth of the St Inez creek and admitted a plea against it filed by a group of Panaji citizens.
The NGT also articulated the composition of the 3-member committee with a member each from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.
The Committee has been directed to visit the site and submit an action taken report apropos the averments made in the application, within a month.
The petition against the connstruction of the footbridge has been filed by more than a dozen residents of the capital city, including former CCP councillor Patricia Pinto, Jack Sukhija and noted architect-activist Talulah D'Silva.
The petition pleads that GSIDC be directed to stop forth-with the "illegal construction" of the bridge being constructed at the mouth of the St Inez creek the connecting walkway cum cycling track to footpath on Dayanand Bandodkar Marg and the restoration of the area.
The petition states that the area is a CRZ-I area and no concrete construction is permitted by the CRZ laws.
